Now that the Chinese Communist Party Has Used Its United Front Work
Can Chinafornia ever be California again?

Since its formation and particularly after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has used United Front Work (UFW) to infiltrate nations, states, and other political entities throughout the Free World in order to guarantee its own continued existence. Its UFW has resulted in California mutating into Chinafornia. Can it ever become California again?

In Goethe’s Faust, the Lord tells Mephistopheles that his servant Faust serves the Lord and, if not clear now, it will become clear. He allows Mephistopheles to make a pact with his servant Faust: if Mephistopheles can provide him with one moment in which Faust can say he would like to stay in that moment forever, then Mephistopheles can take his soul.

Faust agrees to the pact:

If ever to the moment I should say,
Oh, stay, thou art so fair
Clasp me into fetters then and there
Then to destruction I would gladly go
Then may the death bells toll
Then from your service you are freed at last
The clock may stop
The hands may fall
My time will be forever past.

As we view the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), we see that it is using corruption, duplicity, and false promises to tempt mankind with a Mephistophelian dilemma: should we keep our conscience, dignity, and values? Should we keep our religious beliefs and all that the divine has shown us, or should we make a pact with the CCP, accept it’s offer, and forgo everything else?

I. The Communist Party’s United Front Work – How Mephistopheles Tempts Mankind

A. The CCP’s “Magic Weapon”

Man’s understanding of right and wrong, of good and evil, and of the existence of an afterlife directly affects his participation in the human world. In the Free World, man can decide what to believe based on input readily available to him. While all major governments interact with other governments openly and respectfully, the Chinese communist regime deploys techniques that may be either legitimate or covert, but often lack virtue.

Three interrelated factors, however, make the Communist government’s approach unique. “First is the nature of the Chinese state” which Chinascope has explored in depth. {1} The “second is its holistic approach which melds together the legal and the covert, persuasion, inducement, enticement, and coercion; third is the aim of such operations which is not just to direct behavior but to condition behavior. In other words, China does not just want you to comply with its wishes. Far more fundamentally, it wants you to think in such a way that you will of your own volition do what it wants without being told.” {2}

On June 27, 2018, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) reported on how China’s own laws affect how businesses and individuals must interact overseas, “First, China’s cyber security preferences are impacted by its own National Intelligence Laws. These national laws require that: ‘All organizations and citizens shall, in accordance with the law, support, cooperate with, and collaborate in national intelligence work, and guard the secrecy of national intelligence work they are aware of. The state will protect individuals and organizations that support, cooperate with, and collaborate in national intelligence work.’” {3}

The work that Chinese individuals and businesses do overseas to support China is called United Front Work. It is one of the three magic weapons that Mao Zedong called for in winning the civil war in 1949. The United Front Work Department directs such work. According to the Jamestown Foundation, “The United Front Work Department (中共中央统一战线工作部) is the department of the CCP charged with consolidating support for Party policies among non-CCP members, including among individuals of Chinese descent overseas. It has long been a key, albeit well concealed, element of the CCP’s foreign policy.” {4}

In other words, the CCP assumes that the primary loyalty of Chinese overseas is to participate in democratic elections, be candidates, donors, and voters in order to advance China’s national interests abroad and to take the initiative to do so wholeheartedly and of their own free will. They should help achieve the political objectives of the “China Dream of National Rejuvenation” in relation to the South China Sea, Taiwan, and the Belt and Road Initiative. Such interference goes beyond electoral politics; it includes donations in return for favors such as, for example, gaining the appointment of someone who is pro-Beijing. Plausible deniability is assured because such acts are considered state secrets, the betrayal of which is an offence punishable by lengthy jail sentences or possibly execution in China. {5}

The United Front Work is so important to the communist party that Beijing even offers a Master’s Degree in United Front studies. {6}

B. Methods the CCP Uses

Many of the methods the CCP uses are detailed in a report that Macrobusiness recently published. Following are some of the more salient methodologies.

Mobilization of the ethnic Chinese diaspora

Tasking of ethnic Chinese students in foreign countries to suppress anti-Beijing views

Substantial financial and other assistance to key individuals and institutions that are prepared to support China’s interests

Leveraging trade and investment dependencies to coerce partners

Recruitment of business leaders who have strong economic interests in China

Seek to apply Chinese law within the United States and other countries

Penetration of Western research and other institutions to access cutting-edge technologies

Espionage operations against Western and partner countries

Geo-strategic maneuvers to extend Beijing’s influence over new areas

Extensive use of para-military and military forces to persuade, intimidate, and confront foreign forces in selected areas and forcibly to seize, occupy, and militarize strategically important locations. {7}

Louisa Lim an award-winning journalist who has reported from China for a decade and Dr. Gerry Groot of the University of Adelaide, who specializes in the United Front Work Department (UFWD), provide further information in “Inside China’s secretive United Front” {8}

“United Front Work is the responsibility of every Chinese Communist Party member and especially every Chinese Communist Party member who has an official position,” says Groot. “They are supposed to make friends and influence those friends to take on the official positions of the Communist Party.

“This charm offensive is achieved by a variety of methods, including cooperation, cooption, coercion and by making the price of collaboration irresistible, thus slowly absorbing the party’s enemies into its ranks. When it comes to entrepreneurs, the carrots dangled include sought-after positions in government advisory bodies like the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Congress (CPPCC), which imply insider access, if not actual power. The success of this strategy can be seen from a single statistic: the CPPCC now contains 59 US dollar billionaires, whose combined net worth is double the GDP of Ireland.

“In recent years, United Front Work has turned its focus outward, harnessing Chinese living overseas – particularly businessmen, community leaders and students – to project communist party influence abroad. One tried-and-tested formula is the use of community associations, either setting up new bodies or usurping existing ones to serve party ends.” {9}

How can they be used?

Regardless of the number of these CCP-supporting members or organizations, it can be a propaganda tool to be quoted in the language of the country’s media or in Chinese, creating the impression of support from the organization or the Chinese in that country, bolstering Party legitimacy.

It can press for policy changes regarding China through submissions to committees or by lobbying. Since it is a community association, it can deny any connection to China.

It can be the base from which the CCP extends its tentacles to other targeted individuals, groups, or organizations.

For Beijing’s own government organization or a United Front body, it often uses a popular sounding name to disguise its true nature. According to Gerry Groot, in Australia, “Lots of foreigners in particular think they’re dealing with a government-related entity or a civil society entity, when they’re dealing with a very complex entity which is controlled, directed, administered, and surveyed constantly by the Communist Party United Front Work Department.” {10}

Asia Dialogue also reports on the methods of the UFWD: “Liberal democracies are increasingly aware of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) efforts to exert influence internationally, but what does this mean in practice? … The CCP exerts an astonishing amount of control over the lives of those born and raised in China. In the wake of unprecedented economic development it is now facing the challenge of large-scale migration of increasingly affluent Chinese citizens, who through overseas study or work have acquired a home away from home. Of the many ways in which the Party has adapted, the growing strength of the United Front Work Department is of particular interest to those measuring CCP influence abroad. …” {11}

II. Chinafornia

The CCP’s United Front Work mobilizes the Chinese diaspora as well as businesses, government officials, and private organizations around the world. From Taiwan to Australia, from Africa to Europe, from Canada to South America and from San Francisco to New York, it extends its tentacles both visibly and behind the scenes. We will focus on Chinafornia as an example of the methods used to infiltrate and transform the Free World.

According to the 2010 census, the Chinese American population in the United States numbered approximately 3.8 million.

The states with the largest estimated Chinese American populations were California (1,253,100; 3.4 percent and New York (577,000; 3.0 percent).

San Francisco, California has the highest per capita concentration of Chinese Americans of any major city in the United States, at an estimated 21.4 percent, or 172,181 people, and contains the second-largest total number of Chinese Americans of any U.S. city. New York City has the largest number of Chinese Americans at 486,463, but only 6 percent of the total population.

The 2016 Community Survey of the U.S. Census estimates a population of Chinese Americans of one or more races to be 5,081,682. Americans of Chinese descent, including those with partial Chinese ancestry constitute 1.5 percent of the total U.S. population as of 2017.

Of the ten cities with the largest Chinese American populations, five are in California. {12}

It would be natural for Chinese Americans to want to develop their political influence and have a say in the future of their city, their state, and their country, but with China’s United Front “magic weapon” at work, things are not that simple.

The CCP Politburo member and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Yang Jiechi made a speech this year, calling for the government to expand and strengthen “overseas Chinese patriotic friendly forces” in the service of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and “ensure they identify their interests with China’s interest.” {13}

The further requirement that “All organizations and citizens shall, in accordance with the law, support, cooperate with, and collaborate in national intelligence work, and guard the secrecy of national intelligence work they are aware of” adds an ineluctable imperative to support the CCP. {14}

Let us look at how the CCP has bloomed in its relationship with California, achieved greater cooperation, and established good connections with officials and politicians in California via its magic weapon, the UFWD.

A. Increasing Connections with California Officials

The Disobedient Media reported that several officials in California seemed to have close ties to Beijing. {15}

“As China’s economy has grown over the past several decades, so too have donations and support for political figures in California.” Ed Mah Lee, a member of the Democratic Party, was San Francisco’s 43rd mayor and has “a history of financial support from Chinese interests, as well as the open endorsement of public figures in the city with established ties to the Communist Party of China (CCP). … Lee also enjoyed long-time support from the recently-deceased San Francisco figure Rose Pak. Pak served as an executive director the China Overseas Exchange Association, a foreign affairs group under the direction of China’s state Council Overseas Chinese Affairs Office. … San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly directly accused Pak of improperly acting as an agent of the Chinese government. … On September 28, 2016, a video posted to Twitter by China Daily (0:20-0:24) shows Lee placing his right hand over his heart during China’s national anthem.

“Lee is not the only Bay Area politician with a connection to China. Disobedient Media has reported that the mayors of Oakland and Berkeley have ties to groups and individuals who have been the subject of FBI investigations for their ties to the CCP.”

“The Los Angeles Business Journal has highlighted a dramatic increase of Chinese investment in the film industry as well as LA real estate. China is Los Angeles’ largest trading partner, with $164.38 billion in trade to the city in 2013. This increase in investment is welcomed by Mayor Eric Garcetti, who has endeavored to court Chinese businesses since his election in 2013. In 2014 and 2016, Garcetti led trade delegations from the United States to China. … Garcetti also met with Wang Jianlin, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group. Disobedient Media has previously reported on Jianlin’s drive to buy up Hollywood media groups …”

“China has also begun to exert increasing influence over Californian Chinese organized crime groups, using Hong Kong based Triads who are allied with Beijing’s government. … On February 27th, 2006, Chinese American Allen Leung was murdered by a masked assailant in San Francisco.” Leung was the head of an organization that was “traditionally supportive of Taiwan’s Kuomintang government.”

California’s pivot towards China is concerning given the increasing amounts from Chinese financial involvement with California politicians. Similarly, the shift in Californian Chinese organized crime from groups aligned with Taiwan to Triad organizations operating with the blessing of the Chinese government creates doubts about Beijing’s plans for the West Coast. With California increasingly taking steps to act autonomously of the Federal government, it is likely that China’s true intentions will become apparent in due time. {16}

On April 9, 2013, “Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. met with China’s Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng and signed a landmark agreement with the Ministry of Commerce to bolster economic ties and cooperation between California and China. ‘While California seems relatively small compared to the vastness of China, the innovation, the creativity of Silicon Valley, our medical advances, the internet and various other technologies make California, I believe, a very valued partner for China,’ said Governor Brown. They signed a Memorandum of Understanding. … The agreement, the first-of-its-kind between a subnational entity and the Ministry of Commerce, establishes a joint working group that includes California, the Ministry of Commerce and leaders from six provinces.”

As the United States learned later, the MOU, which is detailed in the article, did indeed make California “a very valued partner for China.” {17}

On May 3, 2018, Xinhua News Agency, China’s official press, reported: “U.S. Governor of California Jerry Brown called for more cooperation with China on Thursday, saying that the two countries have great potential as trade partners. … The governor said that China and the United States should work together to promote the global economy despite rising tensions due to the trade dispute between the two countries recently. … “‘A trade war is stupid,’ (Brown) added.” {18}

B. Possible Targets of United Front Work

An example of China’s United Front Work’s enticement was recently reported on August 8, 2018, in an article in the Federalist titled, “Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s Ties To China Go Way Deeper Than An Alleged Office Spy: Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s warm relationship with and advocacy for Communist China go back decades and involve millions, if not billions of dollars.”

Some key points from this article are cited below {19}:

“Chinese intelligence once recruited a staff member at a California office of U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, and the source reported back to China about local politics.”

“Feinstein … employed this individual for almost 20 years in a close capacity, while he represented the senator in interactions with Chinese officials.”

Shortly after the U.S. opened U.S.-Chinese diplomatic relations in 1979. “Feinstein led a mayoral delegation to China joined by her husband, investor Richard Blum, a trip they took together many times over the ensuing years as the relationship between both Feinsteins and China grew.”

“In 1986, Feinstein and Jiang (Zemin, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1989 to 2002) designated several corporate entities for fostering commercial relations, one named Shanghai Pacific Partners. Feinstein’s husband served as a director. … Subsequently Blum’s investments in the Middle Kingdom mushroomed.”

“In May 1993, Feinstein expressed her strong support on the Senate floor for continued trading with China. Contemporaneously, her husband was seeking to raise up to $150 million from investors, including himself, for a variety of Chinese enterprises.”

“In May 1996, she penned an editorial in the Los Angeles Times calling for the United States to grant most-favored-nation trading status to China ‘on a permanent basis.’”

“In May 2000, Feinstein lobbied for making permanent normal trading relations with China, a measure that ultimately passed, and helped pave the way for its entrance into the World Trade Organization, which Feinstein also supported.”

“Feinstein’s economic positions frequently downplayed the PRC’s rampant human rights violations. The senator … often urging appeasement of the Chinese regime in both apologism for such abuses and urging restraint.”

“Feinstein also challenged the Obama administration’s $6.4 billion arms sale to Taiwan, calling it a ‘substantial irritant’ to U.S.-China relations.”

The article went on to suggest that Feinstein’s dealings with China should be investigated.

Daniel Turner, Executive Director of Power The Future, asked: “Is it not worthy of the media’s time to question who drafts her policy statement: staffers concerned for her constituents in California or Beijing?”

He also raised questions about Feinstein’s husband’s business: “One could be suspicious of the $25 billion deal the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation struck with the senator’s husband’s real estate company during the housing crash of 2009. It raises an eyebrow that as chair of the Military Appropriations Subcommittee, Feinstein approved millions in contracts benefiting her husband’s firm. One may question how Blum acquired a lucrative $108 million contract to sell post offices in California.” {20}

According to Politico, Rose Pak, who died in September 2016, and who was mentioned previously, is another person of interest. For decades she was “one of San Francisco’s preeminent political power brokers. Though she never held elective office, she was famous for making and unmaking mayors, city councilmen (or ‘supervisors,’ as they’re known in San Francisco), and pushing city contracts to her allies and constituents in Chinatown.” “According to four former intelligence officials, there were widespread concerns that Pak had been coopted by Chinese intelligence, and was wielding influence over San Francisco politics in ways purposefully beneficial to the Chinese Government. Another worry, U.S. officials said, was Pak’s role in organizing numerous junkets to China, sometimes led by Pak in person and attended (often multiple times) by many prominent Bay area politicians including former San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, who died while in office in 2017.” {21}

A show of power by the CCP was the 2008 Olympic Torch Run in San Francisco. The torch relay around the world met protests for the CCP’s suppression of democracy and human rights “San Francisco was the only U.S. city to host the Olympic torch as it made its way, tortuously, to Beijing. … Most brazenly, said former intelligence agents, Chinese officials bussed in 6,000-8,000 J-Visa holding students – threatening them with the loss of Chinese government funding – from across California to disrupt Falun Gong, Tibetan, Uighur and pro-democracy protesters. … ‘I’m not sure they would have pulled out these stops in any other city, but San Francisco is special’ to China, said a former senior U.S. official.” {22}

Let us look in depth at some events in the current decade to see how the CCP has been using its power to turn California into Chinafornia.

C. The Year 2000 – The City of Santee

In the year 2000, current California Assemblyman Randy Voepel was elected Mayor of the City of Santee and sworn in on December 5, 2000. Santee was asked to issue a proclamation on behalf of Falun Gong and Voepel agreed to the request. The CCP heard about it. On December 27, Lan Lijun, the Consul General of the People’s Republic of China wrote a letter to Voepel to discuss “a matter which is of great importance and grave concern to the Chinese Government and its relations with the United States.”

The letter went on to describe the “illegal” activities of Falun Gong: “advocating superstition and spreading fallacies, hoodwinking people, inciting and creating disturbances, and jeopardizing social stability, thus being deemed an illegal cult organization.” “Many … appeared to be disorganized: some became paranoid,” “suffering from hallucinations,” “jumped into rivers or off buildings,” “even cruelly injured or killed their relatives and friends.” “I am sending you some materials which I hope will help you know more about this Falun Gong cult organization.”

As opposed to believing Lan Lijun, Mayor Voepel wrote a two-page letter in reply: “Your letter personally chilled me to my bones. I was shocked that a Communist Nation would go to this amount of trouble to suppress what is routinely accepted in this country. What you consider to be of great threat to the People’s Republic of China is a political ‘walk in the park’ in the United States. I … must be honest in my concern for the suppression of human rights by your government as evidenced by your request. … P.S. I will have a favorable Mayor’s proclamation for the Falun Gong out as soon as possible.” {23}

Shortly thereafter, Doug Curley of KUSI-TV news reported, tongue in cheek, about the city of Santee getting ready to defend itself from an attack by the People’s Liberation Army. {24}

D. 2016- The Chinese Chamber of Commerce Says “No” to Divine Land Marching Band

On April 17, 2016 The Divine Land Marching Band, which consists of a number of Falun Gong practitioners, was to participate in the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival Grand Parade (MCCBFGP), sponsored by Sakura Matsuri, Inc.

On the day of the parade, when everyone was lined up and ready to start the parade, Mr. Richard Hashimoto, the President of the event sponsor, picked up a megaphone and yelled at the band through the megaphone, saying the band was not allowed to participate in the parade.

“Mr. Hashimoto admitted to one of the members of the marching band that the Chinese Chamber of Commerce told him that Falun Gong is a ‘troublemaker’ and that is why his organization refused to allow Falun Gong to participate in the events that led to the case mentioned below.” {25}

Chinascope sent a letter of inquiry to the SFHRC asking about the status of the case. As of the date of this publication, October 16, 2018, more than one and one-half years later, the SFHRC has not responded to the band members or to Chinascope.

E. June 10, 2017 – Report: Communists OK’ed to Work for the California Government

Andrea Seastrand, a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, wrote an article about California Assembly Bill 22, which allowed communists to work in the state government. According to her article, Assembly Bill 22 “actually received enough votes from Democratic legislators to pass. It shows how out of touch and liberal California’s Legislature has become.” Disobedient Media also reported on the legislation: “In May 2017, a bill sponsored by Assemblyman Rob Bonta sought to remove a Cold War era ban on state employees who were members of the Communist Party.” {26}

By that time Randy Voepel was an Assemblyman. He had served two tours in Vietnam with the Navy during the war. Seastrand quoted him in her article.

“There are 1.9 million veterans in California, many of us fought the communists,” said Voepel, “They are still a threat. We have North Korea that wants to do us in. We have China who is a great, great threat to the United States. They are communist regimes. In China the Falun Gong have been rounded up and put in prisons. There are giant labor camps where there is organ harvesting. There are bullets that are charged off to the families of those executed. You get a bill for 20 yuan to pay for the bullet that killed one of your family members. We have great communist threats in the world.

“And I’m not speaking from bitterness because I’m a Vietnam veteran. I came to peace with that years ago. In fact, Vietnam’s a pretty neat place. But just last week we had many Vietnamese people here who were kicked out of their country. They came here for the freedom. So, Assembly members, I ask for a no vote on this issue. The whole concept of opening up communism and Communist Party members to working for the state of California is against everything we stand for on this floor.”

Assemblyman Travis Allen, from Huntington Beach, also objected:

“You take a look at the number of people that communism has killed in the 20th century alone, it’s over 90 million. Communism stands for everything that the United States stands against. We’re for freedom, we are for justice, we’re for democracy, we are for the rule of law. And communism is none of these things. To allow subversives and avowed communists to now work for the state of California is a direct insult to the people of California who paid for that government.”

Seastrand reported that, after receiving complaints, Assemblyman Rob Bonta, who introduced the bill, withdrew it. Her final comment in the article was, “It was a wrong idea. Thankfully, the bill is dead. We can only hope and pray that someday we can say the same about communism.” {27}

F. June 17, 2017 – The Dalai Lama Delivered a Commencement Address at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD)

As a well-known China reporter John Pomphret wrote, “(O)ut of the almost 1 million foreign students attending U.S. universities this fall (2017), almost one in three will be Chinese. This marks a fivefold increase over the 2004–2005 academic year, when there were 62,523 Chinese students stateside.” At first Academics were imbued with the same viewpoint that inspired the contents of James Mann’s well-known book, the China Fantasy. A true win-win relationship would develop. According to one quote, “it would guarantee America’s ‘intellectual and spiritual domination of {China’s} leaders.” Over time, however, American schools became enamored with Chinese cash. September enrollment at the University of Illinois broke 3,000 {for example}. It is now known as the University of China at Illinois. As an aside, reports indicate that President Trump’s aids, “led by anti-immigration crusader Stephen Miller are reportedly pushing for a blanket ban,” although there is no indication of how seriously the president took the advice. Many schools across the country rely heavily on money from China.

Pomphret pointed out that this wave of Chinese applicants across the country triggered a “tsunami of fraud,” since agents are paid a bounty for each student they bring in. “The result? In this year’s entering class, there will be thousands of Chinese students who lack the education, the language ability, and the critical facilities necessary to benefit from an American education. That’s because many of them were given a slot at a U.S. university almost solely based on their parents’ ability to pay.” “These students end up hanging out with their compatriots, never making an American friend, and returning home with no appreciation of American civil society, its freedoms of association, speech, and religion, or its democracy. In fact, many I have spoken with can be openly hostile to Western values.” {28}

In addition, the Communist government itself closely scrutinizes the behavior of Chinese students wherever they are in the world. The Chinese Students and Scholars Association’s (CSSA’s) political work “runs directly counter to the ideals of a Western education and represents a worrying trend of China attempting to export its system of thought control onto America’s shores. Chinese not prepared for an American education naturally gravitate toward the CSSA. ‘It offers us a place to go when we’re homesick.’ ‘That makes it easier for them to ‘wash our brains.’” {29}

Party cells have even been set up as part of a strategy “to extend direct party control globally and to insulate students and scholars abroad from the influence of ‘harmful ideology,’ sometimes by asking members to report on each other’s behaviors and beliefs.” “‘You still know that if you actively protest against [the party], of if you make some kinds of comments, you know that they could harm you later on.’ … ‘It’s a way of controlling what you are willing to do.’” {30}

In 2007, in a specific demonstration of power, when a CSSA organization at Columbia protested against a human rights speaker, a threatening email was sent to the Columbia group’s website, stating, “Anyone who offends China will be executed no matter how far away they are,” {31}

How did this affect the Dalai Lama’s invitation to speak at UCSD where 14 percent of the students are from China?

UCSD announced on February 2, 2017, that the Dalai Lama would appear at the UCSD commencement ceremony, following a public address delivered on campus on Friday, June 16 to an estimated audience of 25,000.

Even though these Chinese students came to the U.S. to study and had access to information that was no longer censored as it was in China, they still spent much of their time reading the Chinese social media that the CCP actually controls. In their views, the Dalai Lama was not someone who promotes peace and world harmony; rather, he was someone who wants to split China and was part of China’s feudal past, as the CCP had long been telling them.

While these students lacked the capacity to appreciate the values of the free world, they did not hesitate to use the freedom of expression that the U.S. Constitution affords to express and promulgate the communist party’s viewpoint.

Just hours after the announcement, the CSSA at UCSD announced that it had communicated with the Chinese Consulate about it. The students announced on WeChat in Chinese: “Currently, the various actions undertaken by the university have contravened the spirit of respect, tolerance, equality, and earnestness – the ethos upon which the university is built. These actions have also dampened the academic enthusiasm of Chinese students and scholars. If the university insists on acting unilaterally and inviting the Dalai Lama to give a speech at the graduation ceremony, our association vows to take further measures to firmly resist the university’s unreasonable behavior.” {32}

UCSD’s Chinese Students and Scholars Association said in a statement after the invitation to the Dalai Lama was announced, “The Dalai Lama is not only a religious personality but also a political exile who has long been carrying out actions to divide the motherland and to destroy national unity.” {33}

Apparently in the minds of those students, respect means the Free World should show a deep consideration for communism rather than vice versa.

The University defended the values of the Free World and didn’t yield under the pressure. The Dalai Lama still spoke at UCSD.

On September 12, 2018, Inside Higher Education discussed a report that “describes alleged retaliation against the University of California, San Diego, after it invited the Dalai Lama to give a commencement speech in 2017. The report cites unnamed faculty members who say they heard from their colleagues at Chinese partner institutions that universities were ordered by a government entity – believed to be the Ministry of Education – not to collaborate with UCSD. Among other alleged retaliatory actions, a faculty member told Lloyd-Damnjanovic that the ministry blocked funding of a joint research center operated by the University of California’s 10 campuses and Fudan University. UCSD’s media relations office did not comment on the report.” {34}

A September article in the UCSD student newspaper, The Triton, announced, “China will no longer fund travel for visiting scholars at UC San Diego, according to a memo apparently written by government officials that circulated among Chinese academics. The move, according to UCSD School of Global Policy and Strategy Professor Victor Shih, is likely in retaliation against UCSD for inviting the Dalai Lama to serve as the 2016–17 commencement speaker last spring.”

“China took such an action in 2010, eight months after the University of Calgary conferred an honorary degree upon the Dalai Lama. The university was removed from China’s list of accredited universities, throwing many Chinese alumni and students’ post-graduation plans and financial stability into jeopardy. The Canadian institution regained its accreditation in April 2011.”

“‘The Chinese Communist Party has always used political, economic, and diplomatic means to threaten free society,’ says Frank Tian Xie, a professor of business at the University of South Carolina Aiken, told The Triton in an interview conducted in Chinese. ‘This decision proved that all its academic exchange programs and scholarships are a facade serving a political purpose. If these programs are for academic purposes, they shouldn’t be influenced by politics.’” {35}

Students have actively espoused communist values in other areas as well. At Durham University in the U.K., Chinese students notified the local embassy about the appearance of Chinese-Canadian human rights activist Anastasia Lin, who was Miss Canada and is also a Falun Gong practitioner. The local Chinese embassy requested she be disinvited.

In Australia, an article found that “there have been cases of Chinese students reporting back to the Chinese Embassy on fellow students that have not followed Beijing rhetoric.” {36}

In another instance, CSSA students tore down posters about the Tiananmen Square massacre. A directive that the Ministry of Education had handed down in January emphasized the importance of “patriotic education” in ensuring that all university students – even those studying overseas – “always follow the party.” {37}

G. July 2017 – Chinatown Business Improvement District (BID) Executive Director Used His Authority to Make Sure U.S. Citizens Could Not Exercise their First Amendment Rights at a National Park

Nick Janicki applied for a permit with the California State Parks Department for a 501C3, the Foundation for Traditional Culture, to perform a benefit concert at the Los Angeles State Historic Park in Chinatown in Los Angeles. Larry Fulmer, of Special Events for the CA State Park, Los Angeles Sector, informed him on January 17, 2017, that the date of July 29, 2017, was “locked in.”

Sean Woods, Superintendent of the Los Angeles Sector of California State Parks, informed Mr. Jenicki that “a meeting with the Chinatown BID is a mandatory step in our special event permitting process.” At the State Park’s request, Janicki met with George Yu, president of the Chinatown BID.

Janicki agreed to a number of Yu’s requests. He took down the following videos from the organization’s website, including those on Tibetan freedom, slave labor, and environmental destruction. When Yu told him emphatically that if Falun Gong had any presence at the event, then “our conversation was over and we needed to take the event elsewhere,” he drew the line.

Yu also requested that artists performing at the event refrain from saying anything that could be construed as negative towards the Chinese or China.

On May 16, 2017, George Yu sent Janicki a letter saying, “Please be advised that the Chinatown BID is unable to support the Festival.”

As the result, the Park District pulled the permit. According Janicki, “It’s very concerning that the Chinese BID can be given authority over what United States citizens can or can’t do and what First Amendment Rights they can exercise in a public place in a National Park.” {38}

H. 2008 – The First Time, a California Resolution on Human Rights Failed

In 2008, San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly sponsored a resolution that contained language condemning the Chinese government’s willful campaign to oppress the people of Tibet.

“‘We’ve been bullied. We’ve been butchered. I am 82 years old. Please help us!’ The old woman wept bitterly and begged for mercy for the people of her homeland. She is a Tibetan-American who had come to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors with 200 others to support a simple resolution calling for mercy for the people of Tibet.”

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom had appointed Carmen Chu as Supervisor of District 4. In that capacity Chu, refused to support the resolution and District 7 Supervisor Sean Elsbernd went along with her. Daly’s resolution contained language condemning the Chinese government’s willful campaign to oppress the people of Tibet. “Around a hundred people spoke and only 3 of them opposed Daly’s resolution. They were all men from the Chinese Consul. … they called the peaceful Buddhist Tibetans ‘animals.’” The 2008 resolution failed. {39}

I. July 2017 – For the Second Time, a California Resolution on Human Rights Shelved after Communist Party Opposition (SJR10)

Courthouse News Service has detailed coverage of the issue where the California State Senate decided to shelve a bill criticizing China’s human rights violations, because of the pressure from the Chinese Consulate. {40} Because its contents are so relevant, we quote the main parts of the article here:

“In July, state Sen. Joel Anderson, R-Santee, introduced a resolution calling on President Donald Trump and Congress to investigate the suspected human rights abuses by the Chinese government against members of the religious group Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa. The measure moved swiftly through the Senate Judiciary Committee with a unanimous vote.

“Lawmakers then whittled down the initial resolution – five pages of forceful rhetoric against the actions of China – to a single, factual page. But just before the resolution was to be read on the floor, Senate Pro Tem Kevin De Leon, D-Los Angeles, moved the measure to the Senate Rules Committee without a vote or discussion and then shelved it.

“De Leon’s decision may have been due to an unsigned letter sent by China’s consulate general in San Francisco, calling Falun Gong an ‘evil cult.’ The letter was received the day before De Leon moved the bill. Neither De Leon’s office nor the Chinese consulate returned requests for comment.

“‘These are not people that are strapping bombs on themselves and blowing themselves up trying to kill others,’ Anderson said. ‘These are people who are focused on meditation through their faith. They have a harmless faith.’

“In 2007, Anderson got a resolution passed recognizing Falun Gong and the liberty of the United States to allow freedom of religious expression. The Chinese consulate sent him a letter accusing him of being a terrorist, and banned him from traveling to China.

“Falun Gong is a spiritual practice that utilizes qigong, measured movements and a focus on breathing and meditation to promote health and wellness. Falun Gong differs from traditional qigong in that there is no membership fee, no specified ritual and a greater emphasis on morality.

“Congress passed a resolution in 2016 with bipartisan support and drastically more forceful language than Anderson’s recently shelved effort. Minnesota lawmakers passed their own version this week.

“‘Here in California, we talk about California values,’ Anderson said. ‘If we can’t stand up for those who simply want to meditate and become better people, if we can’t step up for religious liberty and freedom, not just here but around the world, we have failed those values.’

“Disturbing reports of torture and forced harvesting of organs have led many nations to ban citizens from traveling to China for medical procedures. China denies that any Falun Gong practitioners have been killed and says those who have died did so because they refused to take medicine or accept medical aid.

“The United Nations and the World Health Organization both disagree and have condemned the actions of the Chinese government.

“A report authored by former Canadian Secretary of State David Kilgour and human rights lawyer David Matas found that ‘the source of 41,500 transplants for the six-year period 2000 to 2005 is unexplained’ and concluded that ‘the government of China and its agencies in numerous parts of the country, in particular hospitals but also detention centers and ‘people’s courts,’ since 1999 have put to death a large but unknown number of Falun Gong prisoners of conscience.’ {41}

“Wait times for organ transplants in China average about two weeks compared to 32 weeks in Canada, despite its smaller voluntary organ donor list.

“‘I think the question has to be asked why does China have such a grip on your throat that they can bully California Democrat leadership that says that they are for the downtrodden, those being picked on around the world, but when it comes to these people they aren’t willing to stand up against their slaughter,’ Anderson said.

“‘We are going to challenge them to see if they want to harvest our organs,’ Anderson said. ‘I am not standing down. There will be no peace until there is justice.’”

Ending

In Faust, Mephistopheles does not win. Faust remains loyal to the Lord, without a single moment of hesitation, despite the temptations that Mephistopheles offers him.

Today, the battle for man’s soul is taking place in a different form. As we can see from the events described herein Mephistopheles and the communist party have been doing very well. Things have not gone so well for the Free World or for mankind as a whole.

The communist party has used many of the means described herein to destroy our values and has successfully lured people to succumb to its values. People seem to have forgotten the meaning of the following words, but they warranted man’s thoughts when written and they warrant our introspection today: (KJ version) Mark 8:36 “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

California is changing into Chinafornia. Can it become California again?

We close with a letter that reminds us who we once were.

Dr. Shizhong Chen, the President of the Conscience Foundation wrote to California State Assemblyman Randy Voepel on September 12, 2017:

Dear Honorable Assemblyman Voepel,

My name is Shizhong Chen and I am a Falun Gong practitioner. I am writing to you to share with you how righteous officials like you may protect their constituents in ways that we may not be aware of.

In 2001 I appeared and spoke at the Santee City Council. Perhaps my statement is still in the city’s record, but I quote it here for your convenience:

“Dear Mayor Voepel and Honorable Council members:

I come to thank you for your proclamation for Falun Gong, a proclamation made in spite of the Chinese government’s pressure; but more importantly, I come to celebrate the American spirit.

In 1839, the ship ‘Amistad’ carried itself fatefully to the United States and touched off a historical legal battle that went up to the Supreme Court. Risking their contemporary national interest, i.e. the alliance with mighty Spain, Americans chose to defend a few strangers. It was this part of the American history that led me to embrace the true spirit of this nation. I began to understand Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and the Civil War: A noble war fought for a principle and for those who could not fend for themselves. I also came to the enlightenment that it was the defense of the principles on which America was founded that justified America’s own long endurance. After the improper victories of naval battles of the US vs. Spain and vs. Japan, the great American admirals all wondered: ‘Are we good or are we lucky?’ I always say with tears in my eyes: ‘Neither. You are blessed!!’

That is how I take the American spirit to my heart; and in doing so, I have wondered: What if ‘Amistad’ sailed from China today? Would America today stand for its principle or its pocket? Today I know safely that the same spirit and the same justice are intact at least in the city of Santee.

Yet, this is not just a Chinese issue. I have taught Falun Gong exercises to over one hundred San Diegans, most of whom are Americans. It may seem most inconceivable that over 200 hundred years after our founding fathers had declared certain inalienable rights, that our rights can come under the threat of a foreign government, yet that threat has come. By standing for your own citizens, you have fulfilled the promise of ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people.’ I admire and congratulate you.”

In response to my statement, you stated: “Your statement tells us why we must do this, as Dr. Martin Luther King once said, ‘In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.’”

Two years later the Cedar Fire broke out. While evacuating to the safety of my Falun Gong friends’ house, we watched attentively the expansion of the wildfire. By the time the fire began to threaten Santee, we heard from the news that firefighting resources had been so stretched after almost a week of wildfires that there were no firefighters or emergency personnel present in the area. On top of that, the power was also out. Then past midnight we heard from the news that the fire had forked in two directions, one to the west, one to the south; it somehow went around Santee. At that moment, we looked at each other said: “Santee should thank its mayor!”

In introducing SJR-10 you have once again stood up for the righteousness. This time I believe California will have you and Senator Anderson to thank for the results.